Whale Rally To Beat Springfield, 4-3

HARTFORD — The Whale scored four unanswered goals in the second period Friday to erase a 2-0 deficit en route to a 4-3 win over the Springfield Falcons at the XL Center.

Kris Newbury assisted on three of the Whale's goals.

Whale coach Ken Gernander was pleased with the effort and scoring from new members of the team. "It's a huge win," he said. "We need those two points. We had a poor start, no excuses for that, but we overcame it. Everyone in the lineup made contributions."

In the first period, with a delayed penalty upcoming, Springfield's Nick Holden took a pass from Michael Chaput on the blue line. Holden's try from the point was deflected by Spencer Machacek to open the scoring at 11:04.

Just 21 seconds later, Holden picked up a second assist, passing to the right point to David Savard, whose shot was tipped out of the air by Matthew Ford. Ford's seventh of the season gave Springfield a 2-0 edge.

Connecticut killed a Micheal Haley cross-checking penalty late in the period, and went into the first break trailing 12-1 in shots.

Looking like a new team in the second period, the Whale took a mere 13 seconds to get on the board. Chris Kreider, returned to Hartford from the New York Rangers, poked the puck around to Newbury, who fed Mike Vernace at the left point. Vernace's shot found the back of the net to cut the deficit and give him his eighth goal of the season.

Not long after, Marek Hrivik, returning from a 35-game absence because of injury, knotted the score at two with a well-placed but less-than-graceful one-timer. He fell as he took a feed from Christian Thomas and buried it top shelf at 11:29.

Midway through the second, a flat Whale attack began to show signs of life. Brandon Mashinter took a wraparound try and a scrum ensued. The play ultimately ended with Whale newcomer Jesper Fast being called for goaltender interference at 12:22. It was the second of two Connecticut penalties on the night; the Whale killed both and Ryan Bourque was particularly effective on the penalty-killing unit.

Brandon Segal picked up his 23rd goal, giving Connecticut the lead, with exactly four minutes to play in the second. Kreider executed a strong forecheck and got the puck loose for Segal in the high slot. After a quick give-and-go to Newbury in the circle, Segal's shot beat Curtis McElhinney down low.

Connecticut then converted its only power play of the night on a Springfield penalty for too many men on the ice. Newbury found Kreider, who delivered to Fast on a low angle. Fast shot for the roof and gave the Whale a 4-2 edge with his first North American pro goal in the last minute of the second.

Seven and a half minutes into the third period, Andrew Joudrey tipped another puck past Whale goalie Cam Talbot to cut the deficit in half. Recently traded former Whale Blake Parlett got the secondary assist on Joudrey's score.